Anthony Simon Laden
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199606191
- eISBN:
- 9780191741081
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606191.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Most philosophical and social scientific work that discusses reason starts from a picture of reason that treats the activity of reasoning as a means of navigating our environment in the pursuit of ...
More
Most philosophical and social scientific work that discusses reason starts from a picture of reason that treats the activity of reasoning as a means of navigating our environment in the pursuit of various ends. This book offers an alternative, social picture of reasoning that pictures the activity of reasoning as a way of interacting with others that is reciprocal and responsive. On this picture, reasoning is to be contrasted with other forms of interaction, such as commanding or deferring. Reasoning is characterized as a social, ongoing activity that involves people inviting others to take what they say as speaking for them as well. So understood, it is a species of casual conversation, not primarily a form of calculation. Part I lays out the basic features of the social picture, and discusses the kind of authority it generates and the nature of casual conversation, of which reasoning is a form. Part II discusses the characteristic norms of three nested activities: casual conversation, reasoning and engaged reasoning. Part III discusses the principles that guide those reasoning as they respond to invitations that their reasoning partners make. These include principles that require attention to a form of self-preservation called integrity, and the connection between our ends and their means.Less
Most philosophical and social scientific work that discusses reason starts from a picture of reason that treats the activity of reasoning as a means of navigating our environment in the pursuit of various ends. This book offers an alternative, social picture of reasoning that pictures the activity of reasoning as a way of interacting with others that is reciprocal and responsive. On this picture, reasoning is to be contrasted with other forms of interaction, such as commanding or deferring. Reasoning is characterized as a social, ongoing activity that involves people inviting others to take what they say as speaking for them as well. So understood, it is a species of casual conversation, not primarily a form of calculation. Part I lays out the basic features of the social picture, and discusses the kind of authority it generates and the nature of casual conversation, of which reasoning is a form. Part II discusses the characteristic norms of three nested activities: casual conversation, reasoning and engaged reasoning. Part III discusses the principles that guide those reasoning as they respond to invitations that their reasoning partners make. These include principles that require attention to a form of self-preservation called integrity, and the connection between our ends and their means.
Robert Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199262014
- eISBN:
- 9780191601033
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262012.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This introductory chapter begins with two conversations: one imaginary and one historical to illustrate the kind of dialogue that currently takes place in world politics. It summarizes the political ...
More
This introductory chapter begins with two conversations: one imaginary and one historical to illustrate the kind of dialogue that currently takes place in world politics. It summarizes the political conversation of humankind by focusing on the discourses of diplomacy and international law. It outlines the basic norms of international society: procedural norms of international law and prudential norms of statecraft. It then argues that a normative dialogue of world politics is possible to the extent that it is divorced from the values of particular civilisations.Less
This introductory chapter begins with two conversations: one imaginary and one historical to illustrate the kind of dialogue that currently takes place in world politics. It summarizes the political conversation of humankind by focusing on the discourses of diplomacy and international law. It outlines the basic norms of international society: procedural norms of international law and prudential norms of statecraft. It then argues that a normative dialogue of world politics is possible to the extent that it is divorced from the values of particular civilisations.
William Bain
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199260263
- eISBN:
- 9780191600975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260265.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Begins by giving an outline of the idea of trusteeship as presented by P. H. Kerr, and then as viewed against a background of the opposite idea—that of liberty, as considered by J. S. Mill. It states ...
More
Begins by giving an outline of the idea of trusteeship as presented by P. H. Kerr, and then as viewed against a background of the opposite idea—that of liberty, as considered by J. S. Mill. It states the purpose of the book is to interrogate the character of trusteeship as an idea of international society, to investigate the assumptions, claims, and justifications that render it intelligible as a recognized and settled mode of human conduct in international life. It contends that the character of trusteeship is discernible in full relief at the intersection of two dispositions of human conduct: the good of assisting persons in need, and the good of respecting human autonomy. The first part of the chapter is a general discussion of the idea of trusteeship in contemporary international society, and it ends by commenting that, since the 11 September attacks, there is very little about the Bush administration's claims that would be out of place in the age of empire—an age in which trusteeship was the most obvious outward manifestation of a similarly righteous mission to propagate the virtue of civilization and to eradicate its enemies. The remaining three sections of the chapter discuss the idiom of Oakeshottian conversation in which the book is written, the international society/English School theoretical tradition in which the book is situated, and the character of trusteeship, which is intelligible in a particular relation of virtue, inequality, and tutelage.Less
Begins by giving an outline of the idea of trusteeship as presented by P. H. Kerr, and then as viewed against a background of the opposite idea—that of liberty, as considered by J. S. Mill. It states the purpose of the book is to interrogate the character of trusteeship as an idea of international society, to investigate the assumptions, claims, and justifications that render it intelligible as a recognized and settled mode of human conduct in international life. It contends that the character of trusteeship is discernible in full relief at the intersection of two dispositions of human conduct: the good of assisting persons in need, and the good of respecting human autonomy. The first part of the chapter is a general discussion of the idea of trusteeship in contemporary international society, and it ends by commenting that, since the 11 September attacks, there is very little about the Bush administration's claims that would be out of place in the age of empire—an age in which trusteeship was the most obvious outward manifestation of a similarly righteous mission to propagate the virtue of civilization and to eradicate its enemies. The remaining three sections of the chapter discuss the idiom of Oakeshottian conversation in which the book is written, the international society/English School theoretical tradition in which the book is situated, and the character of trusteeship, which is intelligible in a particular relation of virtue, inequality, and tutelage.
Ann Mische
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199251780
- eISBN:
- 9780191599057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251789.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
In dialogue with recent developments in cultural sociology, this chapter looks at the forms of discourse generated by movement activists in response to the multiple relations in which they are ...
More
In dialogue with recent developments in cultural sociology, this chapter looks at the forms of discourse generated by movement activists in response to the multiple relations in which they are involved. Networks are reinterpreted as multiple, cross‐cutting sets of social relations sustained by conversational dynamics within social settings. They are at the same time the location for the development of movement solidarities and for the transmission of messages, identity, etc. across movements. The chapter identifies several conversational mechanisms that characterize the process of network construction and reproduction. It also introduces a technique, Galois lattices, to map the complexity of conjunctures of actors and events in a dynamic way.Less
In dialogue with recent developments in cultural sociology, this chapter looks at the forms of discourse generated by movement activists in response to the multiple relations in which they are involved. Networks are reinterpreted as multiple, cross‐cutting sets of social relations sustained by conversational dynamics within social settings. They are at the same time the location for the development of movement solidarities and for the transmission of messages, identity, etc. across movements. The chapter identifies several conversational mechanisms that characterize the process of network construction and reproduction. It also introduces a technique, Galois lattices, to map the complexity of conjunctures of actors and events in a dynamic way.
Attracta Ingram
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279631
- eISBN:
- 9780191599545
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279639.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter develops a method for assessing proposed schemes of rights. It argues that the way to get from some value or interest to rights to securing it should be viewed in terms of a process of ...
More
This chapter develops a method for assessing proposed schemes of rights. It argues that the way to get from some value or interest to rights to securing it should be viewed in terms of a process of social dialogue rather than social contract. Discursive argument must observe certain norms of discussion; the norms proposed by leading advocates of a discursive model of legitimation are not neutral norms of rational discussion. The liberal conception of the person which underlines what is called Ideal Discourse, Ideal Convention, or Constrained Conversation may be held in a non-perfectionist way by a political conception of this as a basis of voluntary political agreement in pluralist democracies.Less
This chapter develops a method for assessing proposed schemes of rights. It argues that the way to get from some value or interest to rights to securing it should be viewed in terms of a process of social dialogue rather than social contract. Discursive argument must observe certain norms of discussion; the norms proposed by leading advocates of a discursive model of legitimation are not neutral norms of rational discussion. The liberal conception of the person which underlines what is called Ideal Discourse, Ideal Convention, or Constrained Conversation may be held in a non-perfectionist way by a political conception of this as a basis of voluntary political agreement in pluralist democracies.
Stewart Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280391
- eISBN:
- 9780191707162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280391.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
This chapter provides a simplified account of how vagueness arises in language and is manifested in the use of language. It is a commonplace that the extensions of vague terms vary with such ...
More
This chapter provides a simplified account of how vagueness arises in language and is manifested in the use of language. It is a commonplace that the extensions of vague terms vary with such contextual factors as the comparison class and paradigm cases. A person can be tall with respect to male accountants and not tall (or even short) with respect to professional basketball players. A person can be wealthy with respect to local business tycoons, but not wealthy with respect to CEOs of major software companies. The main feature of the present account is that the extensions (and anti-extensions) of vague terms also vary in the course of a conversation, even after the external contextual features, such as the comparison class, are fixed. A central thesis of the view is that, in some cases, a competent speaker of the language can go either way in the borderline area of a vague predicate without sinning against the meaning of the words and the non-linguistic facts.Less
This chapter provides a simplified account of how vagueness arises in language and is manifested in the use of language. It is a commonplace that the extensions of vague terms vary with such contextual factors as the comparison class and paradigm cases. A person can be tall with respect to male accountants and not tall (or even short) with respect to professional basketball players. A person can be wealthy with respect to local business tycoons, but not wealthy with respect to CEOs of major software companies. The main feature of the present account is that the extensions (and anti-extensions) of vague terms also vary in the course of a conversation, even after the external contextual features, such as the comparison class, are fixed. A central thesis of the view is that, in some cases, a competent speaker of the language can go either way in the borderline area of a vague predicate without sinning against the meaning of the words and the non-linguistic facts.
Jon Mee
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199591749
- eISBN:
- 9780191731433
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199591749.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This book addresses the emergence of the idea of ‘the conversation of culture’. Around 1700 a new commercial society was emerging that thought of its values as the product of exchanges between ...
More
This book addresses the emergence of the idea of ‘the conversation of culture’. Around 1700 a new commercial society was emerging that thought of its values as the product of exchanges between citizens. Conversation became increasingly important as a model and as a practice for how community could be created. A welter of publications, in periodical essays, in novels, and in poetry, enjoined the virtues of conversation. These publications were enthusiastically read and discussed in book clubs and literary societies that created their own conversable worlds. From some perspectives, the freedom of a distinctively English conversation allowed for the ‘collision’ of ideas and sentiments. For others, like Joseph Addison and David Hume, ease of ‘flow’ was the key issue, and politeness the means of establishing a via media. For Addison and Hume, the feminization of culture promised to make women the sovereigns of what Hume called ‘the conversable world’. As the culture seemed to open up to a multitude of voices, anxieties appeared as to how far things should be allowed to go. The unruliness of the crowd threatened to disrupt the channels of communication. There was a parallel fear that mere feminized chatter might replace learning. This book examines the influence of these developments on the idea of literature from 1762 through to 1830. Part I examines the conversational paradigm established by figures like Addison and Hume, and the proliferation of conversable worlds into gatherings like Johnson's Club and Montagu's Bluestocking assemblies. Part II looks at the transition from the eighteenth century to ‘Romantic’ ideas of literary culture, the question of the withdrawal from mixed social space, the drive to sublimate verbal exchange into forms that retained dialogue without contention in places like Coleridge's ‘conversation poems,’ and the continuing tensions between ideas of the republic of letters as a space of vigorous exchange as opposed to the organic unfolding of consciousness.Less
This book addresses the emergence of the idea of ‘the conversation of culture’. Around 1700 a new commercial society was emerging that thought of its values as the product of exchanges between citizens. Conversation became increasingly important as a model and as a practice for how community could be created. A welter of publications, in periodical essays, in novels, and in poetry, enjoined the virtues of conversation. These publications were enthusiastically read and discussed in book clubs and literary societies that created their own conversable worlds. From some perspectives, the freedom of a distinctively English conversation allowed for the ‘collision’ of ideas and sentiments. For others, like Joseph Addison and David Hume, ease of ‘flow’ was the key issue, and politeness the means of establishing a via media. For Addison and Hume, the feminization of culture promised to make women the sovereigns of what Hume called ‘the conversable world’. As the culture seemed to open up to a multitude of voices, anxieties appeared as to how far things should be allowed to go. The unruliness of the crowd threatened to disrupt the channels of communication. There was a parallel fear that mere feminized chatter might replace learning. This book examines the influence of these developments on the idea of literature from 1762 through to 1830. Part I examines the conversational paradigm established by figures like Addison and Hume, and the proliferation of conversable worlds into gatherings like Johnson's Club and Montagu's Bluestocking assemblies. Part II looks at the transition from the eighteenth century to ‘Romantic’ ideas of literary culture, the question of the withdrawal from mixed social space, the drive to sublimate verbal exchange into forms that retained dialogue without contention in places like Coleridge's ‘conversation poems,’ and the continuing tensions between ideas of the republic of letters as a space of vigorous exchange as opposed to the organic unfolding of consciousness.
George Cheney, Daniel J. Lair, Dean Ritz, and Brenden E. Kendall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195182774
- eISBN:
- 9780199871001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182774.003.0002
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability
This chapter explores how we have limited our own understanding and application of ethics at work through our everyday talk about it. The chapter begins by arguing that how we frame ethics is as ...
More
This chapter explores how we have limited our own understanding and application of ethics at work through our everyday talk about it. The chapter begins by arguing that how we frame ethics is as important, and sometimes more important, than the specific ethical decisions we make. The chapter explains how a perspective on ethics that is grounded in communication and rhetoric can illuminate how we unnecessarily restrain the influence of ethics at work. The chapter makes the case for examining popular culture and everyday talk for clues to how ethics is treated in our professional lives. Turning the saying “talk is cheap” on its head, the chapter urges a serious consideration of what it means to say, for example, that one's work is “just a job” or that we should “let the market decide.” Thus, the reader is urged to find ethical implications in diverse messages and cases, ranging from codes and handbooks, to television shows and Internet advertising, to everyday conversation, including sayings that become part of who we are.Less
This chapter explores how we have limited our own understanding and application of ethics at work through our everyday talk about it. The chapter begins by arguing that how we frame ethics is as important, and sometimes more important, than the specific ethical decisions we make. The chapter explains how a perspective on ethics that is grounded in communication and rhetoric can illuminate how we unnecessarily restrain the influence of ethics at work. The chapter makes the case for examining popular culture and everyday talk for clues to how ethics is treated in our professional lives. Turning the saying “talk is cheap” on its head, the chapter urges a serious consideration of what it means to say, for example, that one's work is “just a job” or that we should “let the market decide.” Thus, the reader is urged to find ethical implications in diverse messages and cases, ranging from codes and handbooks, to television shows and Internet advertising, to everyday conversation, including sayings that become part of who we are.
George Cheney, Daniel J. Lair, Dean Ritz, and Brenden E. Kendall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195182774
- eISBN:
- 9780199871001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182774.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability
This chapter explores deeply how our common ways of speaking about ethics distract us from a more integrative vision of ethics in our lives. The chapter introduces three problems with how we ...
More
This chapter explores deeply how our common ways of speaking about ethics distract us from a more integrative vision of ethics in our lives. The chapter introduces three problems with how we typically approach ethics, as revealed in our language: compartmentalization, or putting ethics in a box; “essentialization,” or trying to reduce or crystallize ethics in terms of one thing or simple answers; and abstraction, or creating distance (or alienation) between ethical concerns and everyday practices. The chapter then explains seven common dimensions cutting across various understandings of ethics, in order to illustrate just what we mean by “ethics” when we speak about it in a particular way. These dimensions include agency and autonomy, discrimination and choice, motive and purpose, responsibility and relationship, rationality and emotionality, role and identity, and scene and situation. The discussion invokes traditional ethical theories to show how they tend to emphasize certain features over others. This chapter concludes by arguing how Aristotle's idea of eudaimonia, or flourishing, helps bring together reframed notions of virtue with our most cherished life goals.Less
This chapter explores deeply how our common ways of speaking about ethics distract us from a more integrative vision of ethics in our lives. The chapter introduces three problems with how we typically approach ethics, as revealed in our language: compartmentalization, or putting ethics in a box; “essentialization,” or trying to reduce or crystallize ethics in terms of one thing or simple answers; and abstraction, or creating distance (or alienation) between ethical concerns and everyday practices. The chapter then explains seven common dimensions cutting across various understandings of ethics, in order to illustrate just what we mean by “ethics” when we speak about it in a particular way. These dimensions include agency and autonomy, discrimination and choice, motive and purpose, responsibility and relationship, rationality and emotionality, role and identity, and scene and situation. The discussion invokes traditional ethical theories to show how they tend to emphasize certain features over others. This chapter concludes by arguing how Aristotle's idea of eudaimonia, or flourishing, helps bring together reframed notions of virtue with our most cherished life goals.
Joanna L. Grossman and Lawrence M. Friedman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149820
- eISBN:
- 9781400839773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149820.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
This chapter considers the decline and fall of a group of closely related causes of action: breach of promise of marriage, alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and perhaps even civil and ...
More
This chapter considers the decline and fall of a group of closely related causes of action: breach of promise of marriage, alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and perhaps even civil and criminal actions for “seduction.” The story here is tangled and complex; no one factor explains why these causes of action lost ground. But they are connected with the social meaning of marriage, and very notably, with one striking twentieth-century development: the sexual revolution—specifically, the end of the idea that only married people were entitled, legitimately, to have sexual intercourse. These causes of action lived in the shadow of traditional marriage, and depended for their validity on traditional marriage. As it declined, they too receded into history, although not entirely.Less
This chapter considers the decline and fall of a group of closely related causes of action: breach of promise of marriage, alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and perhaps even civil and criminal actions for “seduction.” The story here is tangled and complex; no one factor explains why these causes of action lost ground. But they are connected with the social meaning of marriage, and very notably, with one striking twentieth-century development: the sexual revolution—specifically, the end of the idea that only married people were entitled, legitimately, to have sexual intercourse. These causes of action lived in the shadow of traditional marriage, and depended for their validity on traditional marriage. As it declined, they too receded into history, although not entirely.
Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195323443
- eISBN:
- 9780199869145
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323443.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Academics across America are rethinking the place of religion on college and university campuses, and religion has become a hot topic of conversation. Some conversations focus on religious literacy, ...
More
Academics across America are rethinking the place of religion on college and university campuses, and religion has become a hot topic of conversation. Some conversations focus on religious literacy, while others contrast religion with spirituality; some understand religion in light of specific traditions or communities of faith, while others focus attention on concerns such as personal meaning and civic engagement. The American University in a Postsecular Age brings together these divergent conversations. Three of the fourteen essays in the volume are written by the editors, including an introductory essay that explains the term “postsecular,” another on church‐related higher education, and a concluding essay that suggests a framework for talking about religion in the academy. The other authors represented in the book are all well known scholars in the fields of religion and higher education including, for example, Amanda Porterfield, past president of the American Society of Church History, Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Robert Wuthnow, the prolific sociologist of religion from Princeton. The volume is divided into two parts: a first group of essays focuses on religion, institutions, and faculty roles; the second group deals with the place of religion in the curriculum and in student learning. The book as a whole assumes that increased attention to religion will enhance the work of the academy, but a wide variety of perspectives are included.Less
Academics across America are rethinking the place of religion on college and university campuses, and religion has become a hot topic of conversation. Some conversations focus on religious literacy, while others contrast religion with spirituality; some understand religion in light of specific traditions or communities of faith, while others focus attention on concerns such as personal meaning and civic engagement. The American University in a Postsecular Age brings together these divergent conversations. Three of the fourteen essays in the volume are written by the editors, including an introductory essay that explains the term “postsecular,” another on church‐related higher education, and a concluding essay that suggests a framework for talking about religion in the academy. The other authors represented in the book are all well known scholars in the fields of religion and higher education including, for example, Amanda Porterfield, past president of the American Society of Church History, Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Robert Wuthnow, the prolific sociologist of religion from Princeton. The volume is divided into two parts: a first group of essays focuses on religion, institutions, and faculty roles; the second group deals with the place of religion in the curriculum and in student learning. The book as a whole assumes that increased attention to religion will enhance the work of the academy, but a wide variety of perspectives are included.
Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195323443
- eISBN:
- 9780199869145
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323443.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter provides a three‐part definition of religion, including historic religion, personal religion, and public religion, that sets the stage for a clearer and more productive conversation ...
More
This chapter provides a three‐part definition of religion, including historic religion, personal religion, and public religion, that sets the stage for a clearer and more productive conversation about the place of religion in American higher education in the future. A wide range of current topics under discussion in higher educational circles–religious literacy, the making of meaning, civic engagement—have undeniable links to religious concerns. In a postsecular age, higher education will seek to develop appropriate mechanisms and manners for conversation that includes voices reflective of religious particularity, while still maintaining commitment to rational academic discourse.Less
This chapter provides a three‐part definition of religion, including historic religion, personal religion, and public religion, that sets the stage for a clearer and more productive conversation about the place of religion in American higher education in the future. A wide range of current topics under discussion in higher educational circles–religious literacy, the making of meaning, civic engagement—have undeniable links to religious concerns. In a postsecular age, higher education will seek to develop appropriate mechanisms and manners for conversation that includes voices reflective of religious particularity, while still maintaining commitment to rational academic discourse.
Oren Izenberg
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144832
- eISBN:
- 9781400836529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144832.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In this concluding chapter, the author makes a sort of experiment in imagining his argument about the history of poetry as a prescription for reading rather than writing. The author addresses the two ...
More
In this concluding chapter, the author makes a sort of experiment in imagining his argument about the history of poetry as a prescription for reading rather than writing. The author addresses the two concerns he has raised in this book: to think about the nature or structure of collective intentions, and to offer a defense of a kind of intense and deliberated inattention to poems. The discussion is partly autobiographical, taking the author's own use and abuse of poetry as a case study. The author reflects on how he sought to read a poem, A. R. Ammons's Tape for the Turn of the Year with another person, but at a distance—“together apart.” He explains how reading poems together may promote an attitude of indifference toward the specificity of any poem in the greater interest of solidarity with other persons. He also proposes an alternative to models of poetic community built around conversation, interpretation, or translation.Less
In this concluding chapter, the author makes a sort of experiment in imagining his argument about the history of poetry as a prescription for reading rather than writing. The author addresses the two concerns he has raised in this book: to think about the nature or structure of collective intentions, and to offer a defense of a kind of intense and deliberated inattention to poems. The discussion is partly autobiographical, taking the author's own use and abuse of poetry as a case study. The author reflects on how he sought to read a poem, A. R. Ammons's Tape for the Turn of the Year with another person, but at a distance—“together apart.” He explains how reading poems together may promote an attitude of indifference toward the specificity of any poem in the greater interest of solidarity with other persons. He also proposes an alternative to models of poetic community built around conversation, interpretation, or translation.
Rosina Marquez Reiter
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637201
- eISBN:
- 9780748651559
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637201.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language
This book examines mediated business interaction in Spanish. It focuses on communication between native speakers of Spanish from different Spanish-speaking countries with a view to informing our ...
More
This book examines mediated business interaction in Spanish. It focuses on communication between native speakers of Spanish from different Spanish-speaking countries with a view to informing our understanding of intercultural communication in a contemporary business environment. Using elements of pragmatics with tools from conversation analysis, the book examines the various activities that telephone conversationalists engage in to supply and demand a service over the phone through the mediational means of Spanish by addressing the following questions: Do speakers of Spanish display similar communicative practices as those observed in other languages when requesting and being offered a service over the phone? Do specifically located activities such as the call openings and closings display similar coordination and ritualisation as that observed in other languages? Does the language seen as a cultural tool reflect a different orientation towards such activities? What strategies do telephone agents and (prospective) clients employ to obtain a sale, and either procure the best value for money or obviate it, respectively? And, what role does intercultural communication play in the construction of these practices?Less
This book examines mediated business interaction in Spanish. It focuses on communication between native speakers of Spanish from different Spanish-speaking countries with a view to informing our understanding of intercultural communication in a contemporary business environment. Using elements of pragmatics with tools from conversation analysis, the book examines the various activities that telephone conversationalists engage in to supply and demand a service over the phone through the mediational means of Spanish by addressing the following questions: Do speakers of Spanish display similar communicative practices as those observed in other languages when requesting and being offered a service over the phone? Do specifically located activities such as the call openings and closings display similar coordination and ritualisation as that observed in other languages? Does the language seen as a cultural tool reflect a different orientation towards such activities? What strategies do telephone agents and (prospective) clients employ to obtain a sale, and either procure the best value for money or obviate it, respectively? And, what role does intercultural communication play in the construction of these practices?
Ronald W. Langacker
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331967
- eISBN:
- 9780199868209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331967.003.0013
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
A discourse consists of usage events, and in the usage based approach linguistic units are seen as being abstracted from such events. Discourse is fundamentally interactive and necessarily dynamic. ...
More
A discourse consists of usage events, and in the usage based approach linguistic units are seen as being abstracted from such events. Discourse is fundamentally interactive and necessarily dynamic. Abstracted units retain these properties to varying degrees. At both the semantic and the phonological pole, discourse unfolds in a number of channels: objective content, information structure, speech management; segmental content, prosody, gesture. Discourse presupposes an elaborate conceptual substrate which supports and makes coherent what is overtly expressed. One facet of this substrate is the context, including the speaker-hearer interaction and the ongoing discourse itself. Another is the viewing arrangement, i.e. the relation between the interlocutors and the situation described. Also involved are speech acts, based on culturally recognized scenarios of linguistic interaction; while typically covert, these can also be expressed by clauses used descriptively or as performatives (actual enactments of the scenarios). Closely related are vocatives and other kinds of expressive utterances. Being used for many purposes, discourse occurs in many spoken and written genres. Depending on the genre, various levels and dimensions of organization can be discerned. Important in conversation is organization into attentional frames: intonation groups each representing a single window of attention. As discourse proceeds, a conceptual structure is built and progressively updated. Discourse is most effective when it follows certain basic principles of structure building. Grammar is shaped by discourse, and grammatical structures serve particular discourse functions. Grammar includes not only conventional patterns for assembling complex expressions but also established ways of applying them to the ongoing discourse. Grounding is often effected in this manner.Less
A discourse consists of usage events, and in the usage based approach linguistic units are seen as being abstracted from such events. Discourse is fundamentally interactive and necessarily dynamic. Abstracted units retain these properties to varying degrees. At both the semantic and the phonological pole, discourse unfolds in a number of channels: objective content, information structure, speech management; segmental content, prosody, gesture. Discourse presupposes an elaborate conceptual substrate which supports and makes coherent what is overtly expressed. One facet of this substrate is the context, including the speaker-hearer interaction and the ongoing discourse itself. Another is the viewing arrangement, i.e. the relation between the interlocutors and the situation described. Also involved are speech acts, based on culturally recognized scenarios of linguistic interaction; while typically covert, these can also be expressed by clauses used descriptively or as performatives (actual enactments of the scenarios). Closely related are vocatives and other kinds of expressive utterances. Being used for many purposes, discourse occurs in many spoken and written genres. Depending on the genre, various levels and dimensions of organization can be discerned. Important in conversation is organization into attentional frames: intonation groups each representing a single window of attention. As discourse proceeds, a conceptual structure is built and progressively updated. Discourse is most effective when it follows certain basic principles of structure building. Grammar is shaped by discourse, and grammatical structures serve particular discourse functions. Grammar includes not only conventional patterns for assembling complex expressions but also established ways of applying them to the ongoing discourse. Grounding is often effected in this manner.
Dorota M. Dutsch
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533381
- eISBN:
- 9780191714757
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533381.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This introductory chapter surveys previous research on feminine speech patterns in Roman comedy and makes the case for a reading based on conversational analysis. This new reading draws upon ...
More
This introductory chapter surveys previous research on feminine speech patterns in Roman comedy and makes the case for a reading based on conversational analysis. This new reading draws upon statistics for the distribution of terms of endearment, polite modifiers, and references to pain, in order to foreground relational aspects of speech as the chief domain of gender differentiation in the palliata. The proposed method is then applied to several excerpts of female speech from Terence and Plautus. A close reading of these passages suggests that female characters in Roman comedy tend to stress closeness and intimacy both through explicit terms denoting relationships and through relevant verbal actions, such as discussing problems and paying attention to the problems of others.Less
This introductory chapter surveys previous research on feminine speech patterns in Roman comedy and makes the case for a reading based on conversational analysis. This new reading draws upon statistics for the distribution of terms of endearment, polite modifiers, and references to pain, in order to foreground relational aspects of speech as the chief domain of gender differentiation in the palliata. The proposed method is then applied to several excerpts of female speech from Terence and Plautus. A close reading of these passages suggests that female characters in Roman comedy tend to stress closeness and intimacy both through explicit terms denoting relationships and through relevant verbal actions, such as discussing problems and paying attention to the problems of others.
Siriporn Panyametheekul and Susan C. Herring
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195304794
- eISBN:
- 9780199788248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304794.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Turn-taking and response patterns in a popular Thai chat room on the Web are analyzed in light of Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974) model of turn allocation in face-to-face conversation, ...
More
Turn-taking and response patterns in a popular Thai chat room on the Web are analyzed in light of Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974) model of turn allocation in face-to-face conversation, taking into consideration participant gender. Flirtatious initiations and the responses they receive are also analyzed. Females participate more often and receive a higher rate of response from both females and males. In contrast, males, who are in the minority, must work harder to take the floor, even in their attempted flirtatious interactions. These results suggest that gender interacts with culture online in complex ways: contrary to previous findings on gender in chat rooms, and contrary to culturally-based expectations about the subordinate status of Thai women, females appear to be relatively empowered in the Thai chat room studied here, as assessed through turn allocation patterns.Less
Turn-taking and response patterns in a popular Thai chat room on the Web are analyzed in light of Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974) model of turn allocation in face-to-face conversation, taking into consideration participant gender. Flirtatious initiations and the responses they receive are also analyzed. Females participate more often and receive a higher rate of response from both females and males. In contrast, males, who are in the minority, must work harder to take the floor, even in their attempted flirtatious interactions. These results suggest that gender interacts with culture online in complex ways: contrary to previous findings on gender in chat rooms, and contrary to culturally-based expectations about the subordinate status of Thai women, females appear to be relatively empowered in the Thai chat room studied here, as assessed through turn allocation patterns.
Nigel Biggar
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199566624
- eISBN:
- 9780191722042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199566624.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Religion and Society
This chapter develops reflections on a selection of important questions, which have been raised in the body of the book, which are: How best may we interpret Rawls and Habermas? How does real ...
More
This chapter develops reflections on a selection of important questions, which have been raised in the body of the book, which are: How best may we interpret Rawls and Habermas? How does real conversation proceed? To what extent does communication between ideological strangers involve ‘translation’? What is a religious argument? How should we conceive ‘the secular’? Can the state's establishment of religion ever be liberal? And what does all this imply for current negotiations between Islam and the liberal West?Less
This chapter develops reflections on a selection of important questions, which have been raised in the body of the book, which are: How best may we interpret Rawls and Habermas? How does real conversation proceed? To what extent does communication between ideological strangers involve ‘translation’? What is a religious argument? How should we conceive ‘the secular’? Can the state's establishment of religion ever be liberal? And what does all this imply for current negotiations between Islam and the liberal West?
Robert Kraut
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199228126
- eISBN:
- 9780191711053
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228126.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
The goal of this chapter is to determine the role, if any, that jazz performance might play in motivating and/or evaluating an aesthetic theory. The upshot is that jazz is theoretically relevant ...
More
The goal of this chapter is to determine the role, if any, that jazz performance might play in motivating and/or evaluating an aesthetic theory. The upshot is that jazz is theoretically relevant insofar as it presents itself to engaged performers and listeners as a mode of musical conversation: the phenomenology of linguistic interaction dominates the genre. Focus upon jazz thus encourages the idea that artforms—even those that appear to be understandable ”in isolation”—must be approached as instances of conversational, linguistic phenomena.Less
The goal of this chapter is to determine the role, if any, that jazz performance might play in motivating and/or evaluating an aesthetic theory. The upshot is that jazz is theoretically relevant insofar as it presents itself to engaged performers and listeners as a mode of musical conversation: the phenomenology of linguistic interaction dominates the genre. Focus upon jazz thus encourages the idea that artforms—even those that appear to be understandable ”in isolation”—must be approached as instances of conversational, linguistic phenomena.
Angelica Goodden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199238095
- eISBN:
- 9780191716669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238095.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, ...
More
From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, and increasing it with the triumphant publication in French and English of De l'Allemagne. Fanny Burney, who greatly admires Staël's latest book, continues to regret the impossibility of meeting her, and Maria Edgeworth likewise; Byron, another enthusiast for the work, watches her ‘perform’ in society with both scorn and amusement, while statesmen are more or less shocked by her boldness in advising them how to handle war and peace. She enjoys her fame, but longs for Paris and French conversation; continuing to provoke both disapproval and interest, she finds that her foreignness excuses some of her social faux-pas but not others. The abolitionist Wilberforce becomes a friend, and she promises with Wellington to help propagate his writings in France.Less
From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, and increasing it with the triumphant publication in French and English of De l'Allemagne. Fanny Burney, who greatly admires Staël's latest book, continues to regret the impossibility of meeting her, and Maria Edgeworth likewise; Byron, another enthusiast for the work, watches her ‘perform’ in society with both scorn and amusement, while statesmen are more or less shocked by her boldness in advising them how to handle war and peace. She enjoys her fame, but longs for Paris and French conversation; continuing to provoke both disapproval and interest, she finds that her foreignness excuses some of her social faux-pas but not others. The abolitionist Wilberforce becomes a friend, and she promises with Wellington to help propagate his writings in France.
